Russia may have invaded Crimea, Syria may still be in chaos as their civil war rages on, his Affordable Care Act may be devastating the health insurance of millions of Americans, and millions more may have given up looking for work in the current economic environment, but President Obama whistles past the graveyard and continues…
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In the ongoing, but welcome, saga of delaying the many ObamaCare mandates on employers, we have yet another to advise you of with the September 11 decision of the Department of Labor that the federal agency will not penalize employers that do not meet the October 1 mandate that requires employers to advise employees of…
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After numerous lawsuits about his “recess appointments,” President Obama struck a deal with Congress that allowed him to fill the vacant positions on the National Labor Relations Board. Those appointments have now all been made and the board is at a full complement of members. The question remains as to whether they will reaffirm a…
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As we comb the courts for examples of cases involving franchising, restaurants and labor law, we try to home in on those that could impact Dunkin’ Donuts franchise owners. In this issue of Independent Joe, we want to bring you up to date on a series of cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court which…
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Supreme Court To Review NLRB Appointments – President Obama’s “recess appointments” to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which were ultimately declared illegal, continue to make news. The three appointments, made while the Senate was still in session, were negated by the courts. Consequently, any decisions (most of which were anti-business) by the NLRB after the…
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More West Coast Movement on Fair Franchising – Although it is not yet over, good news continues to stream out of California on the Fair Franchising initiative. This week, the California Assembly’s Committee on the Judiciary approved the bill on a 7-2 vote with one member absent and not voting. The bill has now been sent to the Assembly’s Committee…
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Swipe Fee Settlement Deadline of May 28! – Regarding the proposed credit card swipe fee settlement, franchisees are reminded that they have until May 28, 2013 to advise the court whether they want to be included in the settlement. The proposed settlement offers monetary damages and limited modifications to Visa and MasterCard surcharging rules, but also mandates…
Read More »For many of us in the Northeast, Sandy was our first taste of massive destruction and outages that businesses in the South and Midwest know too well. Many franchisees lost power for over a week, faced floods, and even saw their stores and homes destroyed. Hopefully all will be rebuilt, equipment will be replaced and…
Read More »Ovation Payroll, one of our many active sponsor organizations, has advised us that the Department of Labor (DOL) published final regulations requiring certain retirement plan service providers to furnish fee-related information to the plan administrators of the defined benefit and/or defined contribution plans with the organizations with which they contract (the service-provider rules). In conjunction…
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The Massachusetts Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (“DCJIS”) launched a new on-line system (“iCORI”) for employers to use when conducting criminal background checks in Massachusetts.
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